Nebraska Republican mayor loses reelection after running anti-transgender ads. Democratic challenger John Ewing beat Republican incumbent Jean Stothert 56 percent to 44 percent for the mayorship of Omaha.

https://www.advocate.com/politics/nebraska-republican-mayor-loses-trans-ads

42 comments

  2. >On Tuesday, Democrat John Ewing pulled off a surprise upset in Omaha’s mayoral race, [defeating longtime Republican incumbent Jean Stothert 56–44 percent](https://www.wowt.com/politics/election-results/). Ewing’s victory makes him the first Black mayor in the city’s history—and delivers a sharp rebuke to anti-transgender campaign tactics. Stothert had blanketed airwaves and mailboxes with anti-trans ads, attempting to turn the race into a referendum on gender identity. But Nebraska [Democrats](https://www.advocate.com/democratic-party) didn’t flinch. Instead of distancing themselves, they doubled down—mocking Stothert’s messaging and pointing out the absurdity of making trans issues a centerpiece in a race fundamentally about roads, housing, and city governance. The outcome marks one of the first real-world tests of post-2024 anti-trans politics in a contested swing district—and this time, it backfired for [Republicans](https://www.advocate.com/republican-party).

    >Democrats didn’t sit back in the face of Stothert’s mailer blitz—they hit back hard. In the campaign’s final days, Nebraska Democrats[ launched their own countermessaging](https://x.com/NebraskaDems/status/1921361481536278934/photo/1), mocking the incumbent’s fixation on culture war talking points. One viral image featured a bathroom stall with the tagline: “Jean’s focused on potties. John’s focused on fixing potholes.” The contrast was blunt, effective, and local.

    >After Ewing’s win, Nebraska State Sen. Megan Hunt [summed up the result](https://x.com/NebraskaMegan/status/1922519997986844677): “We need to understand this as a victory against trans hate and discrimination — it’s what otherwise moderate Mayor Jean Stothert made the entire end of her campaign about. Regular Americans don’t react to or receive the call to trans panic. Enough. We are speaking to the future.”

    Thank goodness that Ewing won. It’s nice to see Democrats actually fight back and do something rather than just let Christian nationalists try to eliminate our existences.

  3. Racism and transphobia was this loser’s entire campaign

  4. Thank god for decency! We need to see more of this. See ya Jean!

  5. Trans hate might excite the primitives, but it isn’t going to feed anybody’s kids.

  6. 44% of people are effin’ disturbed and it sucks that I have to share a planet with them.

  7. I doubt the citizens of Omaha really give much of a shit about trans rights, either way. This is probably more of a backlash to the entire MAGA bullshit that is falling apart with trump’s asinine tariff “plan”, naked corruption (even by his standards) and overall awfulness. This is great news.

  11. Trying to parse this relative to Omaha’s voting areas, the 2nd District appears there?

    Douglas County, 2024:

    | Harris | 148,733 |
    |—|—|
    | Trump | 120,919 |

    2nd District:

    | Harris | 163,541 |
    |—|—|
    | Trump | 148,905 |

    Crazy how red the rest of the state is, but Omaha looks good going forward. Feel free to chime in Nebraskans

  13. I lived in Omaha for a short stint. I’m glad there has been a change to their status quo.

  14. Are transgender people a big problem in Omaha, Nebraska?

  16. I was skeptical, but it seems like this might be an impressive win.

    According to [ballotpedia](https://ballotpedia.org/Omaha,_Nebraska) Omaha consistently skews Republican on a “more than average” basis. Their population of college educated citizens are roughly the same as US average (US average is 37.7%, Omaha is 40%).

    This could actually be good news.

  18. 64-34 in 2021 to 44-56 in 2025

    State went 59-39 Trump in 2024.

    Omaha went 54-44 Harris in 2024.

    So basically Omaha hasn’t really moved all that much since 2024, but since the last mayor election it’s moved quite a bit.

  19. Hey maybe don’t run campaigns on hate? Just an idea.

  20. After seeing the damage these hateful Republicans are doing, people still voting for them?

    The hate really is to the core of their soul

  21. Black democrat wins? Obviously cheated. I mean why would anyone vote for a guy like that, when they could vote for a pretty conservative lady? /s

  24. Thought republicans stood up for freedom. They ain’t that anymore. maga is full blown taking freedom away.

    Disgusting

  25. And Democrats will still claim that they need to appeal to the right wing

  26. Question, when people lose their jobs, their homes, their healthcare, etc, will they still be obsessing over trans people?

  29. We’re so sick of the hate. When will they get it?

  30. I mean, it’s Omaha. Nebraska at large is still not… a tolerant place.

  33. Republicans are obsessed with trans people. It’s fucking weird.

    We are like 0.1% of the population. Stopped being obsessed weirdos and just govern.

  35. mocking Stothert’s messaging and pointing out the absurdity of making trans issues a centerpiece in a race fundamentally about roads, housing, and city governance

    Real simple plan – don’t take their bait. GOP tends to run on few simple issues that almost never address anything that affects most people (aka not rich). Keep the messaging focused and don’t get distracted by the GOPs or progressives nonsense.

  41. Are we going to hear cries of “rigged” and “stollen” for years?

  42. Jan 28th – [Democrat wins Iowa Senate seat in district Trump won by 21 points](https://www.radioiowa.com/2025/01/28/democrat-wins-iowa-senate-seat-in-district-trump-won-by-21-points/)

    Jan 29th – [Democrats win control of Minnesota Senate](https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5111676-minnesota-senate-democrats-control/)

    Feb 16th – [Democrats win Delaware Senate seats in Saturday’s special elections](https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/politics/2025/02/16/democrats-win-two-delaware-senate-seats-in-special-election/78855423007/)

    Mar 11th – [Democrat David Gottfried easily wins Minnesota House special election, restoring a 67-67 power split](https://apnews.com/article/special-election-minnesota-legislature-house-2e194375f99906d1901890ab75eaf994)

    Mar 26th – [Democrats take hope from upset win in a GOP-leaning Pennsylvania state Senate district](https://apnews.com/article/pennsylvania-democratic-party-donald-trump-election-094e907bd9af0d55a3ac76bb5e22d17c)

    Apr 1st – [Liberal Wins Wisconsin Court Race, Despite Musk’s Millions](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/01/us/politics/wisconsin-supreme-court-crawford-schimel.html?unlocked_article_code=1.8k4.DWUK.j49FDXMjG7D3&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare)

    April 30th – [Democrats Win Landslide in Safe Iowa Seat, Claim ‘Rebuke of Trump’](https://www.newsweek.com/democrats-win-landslide-safe-iowa-seat-claim-rebuke-trump-2066050)

    May 13th – [Democrat ousts incumbent Republican in Omaha mayoral race](https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5299111-democrat-ousts-republican-omaha-mayoral-race/amp/)

    May 20th – [Democrats win New York state Senate race in Trump-friendly district](https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/5310726-democrat-sam-sutton-wins-new-york-seat/amp/)

    Democrats lost the special elections in Florida, but over-performed overall:

    * [Republicans win — but underperform — in both Florida special elect
    ions](https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/01/patronis-fine-trump-florida-00265436)

    >On Tuesday, he said in a statement that the results marked an overperformance by Democrats, given that Trump won each seat by more than 30 points in November and Fine and Patronis saw a 14- and 15-point victory, respectively.

    And Republicans have been under-performing in school district races:

    * [Conservative School Boards Face Election Defeats in Trump Heartland](https://www.newsweek.com/school-board-election-defeats-trump-2067993)

    * [Texas Voters Oust Several Book-Banning Incumbents in School District Elections](https://truthout.org/articles/voters-oust-several-book-banning-incumbents-in-school-districts-across-texas/)

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